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Liverpool Echo

Sport

Ian Doyle

Pep Guardiola has said what Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp can't in extraordinary Man City outburst

Jurgen Klopp Pep Guardiola EPL FSG Manchester United

It was a remarkable, passionate call to arms that struck right to the heart of the issues of a team expected to be challenging much nearer the top of the Premier League this season.

"Right now, we don't have it," said the frustrated manager. "The fans, they come here and we have to give them something, they expect and we have to do it. But we don't have it right now.

"You have a tendency when you're a human being, when you've won a lot (you think) 'I should do this, I should do that' but you have to work. You have to put fire in every ball and every action and every situation. It's not about being better or not. It's more 'come on, let's go'.

"I see things every day that you (the journalists) cannot see because you are not there. But I see it. And it's not one single player, everyone is there. If it was just 11 players then it would be easy - I'd just pick 11 other players.

"Our fans have to push us. Have to demand more, have to shout, 'I know how good you are, show us again'. I want a reaction from everyone - not just the players but the staff and everyone."

So said Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola during an animated press conference shortly after his side had fought back from 2-0 down to beat Tottenham Hotspur at home on Thursday night.

But the words could easily have been uttered by Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp. Even when the two standard-bearers of recent Premier League times fall short of expectations, they continue to echo each other in many ways.

Of course, there are differences which may explain Klopp's more reserved tone. City haven't had the same injury problems as Liverpool this season and, as a consequence, their efforts to integrate new main striker Erling Haaland, while not without bumps, haven't quite been as difficult as those for the Reds with Darwin Nunez. It's also meant they haven't suffered the same drop off in terms of form.

However, Liverpool fans will relate to much of what Guardiola said. Not least what the City boss had to say about his team's home support.

Klopp hasn't been as explicit in such comments, although there has been the occasional call to arms. Save a couple of notable exceptions, the atmosphere at Anfield hasn't been the most supportive this campaign, for some a clear hangover from events in Paris last May regardless of what has been happening on the pitch. A lunchtime kick-off against Chelsea on Saturday will be a good test of how the fans are reacting to Liverpool's recent worrying Premier League form.

There are further parallels. While City and Liverpool are, this season at least, not fighting for the same prize in the Premier League, they are both playing catch-up - City attempting to reel in runaway leaders Arsenal, Liverpool looking to close the yawning 10-point gap to the Champions League qualification places.

And Guardiola offered the Reds compliment - and a reminder of how things used to be in the top flight in recent years - when he contemplated his team's predicament.

"It's normal being in a situation behind another team," he said. "We have been in this situation a few times behind Liverpool. Let's go. In football it's not just about playing good or bad or good skills. It's something we have to have inside all of us."

But what Guardiola demanded more than anything was greater hunger and fight from his team. And anyone who listened to Klopp bemoan the lack of "challenges" from his players in recent games will know all too well to what the City boss is referring.

Clearly, the effects of slugging it out with each other over the last four seasons - and the relentless nature of the schedule, along with the impact of the bizarre mid-season World Cup - has dulled the bodies and minds of both sets of players. Both City and Liverpool have been paying for such intensity this campaign.

Nothing lasts forever. But, as City demonstrated in the second half on Thursday, that doesn't mean you cannot start again. Klopp will hope Liverpool can underline that fact over the coming months.

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